He's loud, rude, clumsy, uneducated, lazy and you suspect has a hankering for some really intense personal hygiene issues. But he's all they have....

Bob Russell (Brown) and his wife Cindy (Bromka) are sleeping one night, when they get a call to say that Cindy's father has had a heart attack. They need to go to Indianapolis quickly, but what about the kids? Miles (another early role for Macauley Culkin) and Maisie (Hoffmann) are far too young to take care of themselves and the elder daughter Tia (Kelly)... well let's just say she needs keeping an eye on. But their friends are unavalable and the only family member they could call is Buck. Even in her hour of greatest need, Cindy still needs convincing, but there is no other choice, so call they do.

Buck leaves his place (just the sort of place you'd think he would live in), gets in the car and smokes his way out to the suburbs and I mean smokes. The engine is so shot, a single backfire clears the ground for acres around the car.

Now, it's a while since Cindy last invited him out (they have moved since then, so he couldn't just drop in) and so he spends five minutes pounding on the wrong door at three in the morning before they finally call him over.

In the morning, the kids awake to find this strange big guy murdering all the food in the house and calling it 'Breakfast'. Introductions are made, but whilst the two youngest think Uncle Buck is swell, Tia is less impressed and begins a running battle to be independently obnoxious, even to the point of telling Buck's girlfriend Chanice (Amy Madigan) false rumours about Buck and the over-amorous neighbour Marcie (Laurie Metcalf). This causes Chanice to drive out for a confrontation that of course never happens and meanwhile Buck is getting increasingly concerned about Tia's boyfriend 'Bug', who he immediately recognises as a fellow sleaze-bag. Tia is only with him because it obviously upsets her mother so much.

Cue some solid head-to-head stuff, including Buck driving Tia to school each morning, Buck going into Maisie's school and tearing a strip off her way-too-serious Principal and Buck taking the kids Bowling, where one of his terrible friends tried (very, very unsuccessfully) to hit on Tia. Then there's the visit to the party.....

Ultimately Buck's persistence pays off and the kids all love him by the time their parents get back. Tia now thinks he's wonderful, especially as he has managed to grant her retribution on the now ex-sleazebag boyfriend Bug (with a five-iron and some well-aimed golfballs) and even improve the relationship she has with her mother.

Verdict?

Uncle Buck has to be just about the greatest movie John Candy ever made. You know when some actors get roles that seem written just for them? Ferris Beuller for Matthew Broderick. Jim Kirk for William Shatner. Han Solo for Harrison Ford. Anyone blonde and ditzy for Meg Ryan. Well, This is such a role for John Candy. It is impossible to say anything bad about him or his performance. Whether he is sparring verbally with Macauley Culkin or physically with Tia's boyfriend 'Bug', all of his lines and all of his scenes are smooth as a very smooth thing that doesn't need ironing.

The rest of the cast seem to revolve around him and whilst they are very good in their own way, it must have been so easy for them to act alongside a comic genius at the height of his powers. Culkin is so much more relaxed than in Home Alone, it's almost possible to like him. Gaby Hoffmann went on to do Sleepless In Seattle and is just small, cute and mercifully quiet. Jean Louisa Kelly shines in her first acting role and was to go on to appear in the acclaimed Mr Hollands Opus alongside Richard Dreyfuss.

The other actors had smaller roles, although mention should be given to Amy Martigan as Chanice and Laurie Metcalf, who effectively played a similar role to the one in Roseanne (Roseanne's single, sex-starved sister).

I could go on for ages, but it'd take a long time for the page to load. You've all seen the movie. Go see it again. And if you haven't - what are you waiting for????